An Interview with Edward J. Blum “The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga…” (Episode 18)

Summary: Edward J. Blum is a historian of race and religion in the United States. He is the author of W. E. B. Du Bois, American Prophet (Politics and Culture in Modern America) (2007), and Reforging the White Republic: Race, Religion, and American Nationalism, 1865-1898 (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War) (2005), and He is the co-author (with Paul Harvey) of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America (2012), as well as the editor or co-editor of several volumes. An award-winning writer and teacher, Blum was named by the History News Network a “top young historian” in 2007. Additionally, The Color of Christ was named a "best book" of 2012 by Publisher's Weekly ... in religion; and Book List named it one of their top 10 black nonfiction of the year. In this interview Kirk and Edward discuss how Jesus has historically been portrayed in pictures, the common 19th century conception of Jesus, the meaning of a white Jesus to black and Native American Mormons, and the racial significance of Mormonism's usage of the Christus statue.